diff --git a/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.cc b/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.cc
index dfa32874dec3b28ed93e6625b23534a7e4919ce7..11a686b1105673de17582877b4f62294882a2d3c 100644
--- a/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.cc
+++ b/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.cc
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ void MMCifInfo::ConnectBranchLinks(mol::XCSEditor editor)
            blm_it->second.begin();
          blv_it != blm_it->second.end();
          ++blv_it) {
-      editor.Connect(blv_it->GetAtom1(), blv_it->GetAtom2());
+      blv_it->ConnectBranchLink(editor);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.hh b/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.hh
index dde4589923fc55d1b6197a4f7f83b4f5ee92af49..8da038933d23174b3e14b520e0d9a7b7145d2dd9 100644
--- a/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.hh
+++ b/modules/io/src/mol/mmcif_info.hh
@@ -927,6 +927,10 @@ public:
                 atom1_(atom1), atom2_(atom2) {}
         mol::AtomHandle GetAtom1() const { return atom1_;}
         mol::AtomHandle GetAtom2() const { return atom2_; }
+        void ConnectBranchLink(mol::XCSEditor editor)
+        {
+          editor.Connect(atom1_, atom2_);
+        }
 
 private:
   mol::AtomHandle atom1_;